U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,211 and British patent specification No. 1,341,967 are illustrative of machines, that are operable on a shoe assembly formed of a last having an insole located on its bottom and an upper mounted thereon, for stretching the upper about the vamp of the last prior to wiping the toe portion of the upper margin against the corresponding portion of the insole. In the operation of these machines, the shoe assembly is supported bottom-down on a support; front pincers are caused to grip the upper margin proximate to its toe end extremity; back pincers are caused to grip the upper margin on each side of the upper margin heelwardly of the upper margin portion or portions gripped by the front pincers; and relative upward movement of the support with respect to the pincers is effected to effect said stretching.
The last, as is conventional, has a reentrant portion or throat between the top of its toe and the front of its cone. When certain types of uppers having one-piece portions made of relatively stiff material are mounted over the throat of the last, the upper material bridges over and is spaced from the throat so that the stretching operation does not result in the upper being snugly fitted against the throat, thus resulting in a poorly fitted shoe.